As scheduled, the crane from Wishlow pulled into the driveway at 8:00 am sharp. We were ready. With Greg’s steady hand at the controls we disassembled the remaining pieces of the drum and base. Just after 8:30 the truck arrived and the loading began. It went like clockwork. The largest piece weighed in at a hefty 9,400 lbs. We lifted, placed, stacked and fastened everything in place with our custom made brackets. The crane was on its way by 11:00 and at 11:30 the load was secured and ready for its journey to the Arctic Circle. By Saturday evening the base and drum should be assembled on site. Hopefully, we will get some pictures of the assembled drum in its final location soon.
Watching steel rust
We sprayed a light mist of very mild acid last week to start the rust patina process on the giant drum which will soon be bound for the Arctic Circle. I was amazed at how quickly the rust formed on the special Corten weathering steel as we had hoped. We were pleased to see that it wasn’t nearly as mottled and uneven as is usually the case on normal steel. It is looking great! Watching steel rust is even more exciting than watching paint dry!
Miniature drum
Our client asked us if it was possible to create a miniature version of the drum using the same weathering steel as the giant one, something suitable for display in an office. We worked up this prototype which measures about six and a half inches across. It’s made from schedule 80, six inch steel pipe to get the proper thickness in the drum and base bands and weighs in at a hefty six and a half pounds. I still have to paint the’ gravel’ in the base. The mild acid we sprayed on the steel to make it rust turned the sculpting epoxy bright blue. It will make for a nice memento of the project. Next week we will find out how many more we need to create.
